


The One with the Photon Torpedo

by CeresJago



Series: Voyager Drabbles [3]
Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Pre-Relationship, it's there at the end if you squint, otp prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-06
Updated: 2018-06-06
Packaged: 2019-05-18 18:54:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14858358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CeresJago/pseuds/CeresJago
Summary: “I know how we can get the photon torpedo.”“How?” B’elanna asked quietly. “We’ve been sitting here for the better part of an hour with no plan, so I’m open to any ideas."“It will be easy,” he said quietly, “you just have to seduce him.”“You’re kidding, right?” B’elanna asked exasperatedly. “I’m about as seductive as a cabbage…”OR... where a local government takes a photon torpedo from Voyager and Tom and B'elanna are tasked with bringing it back.





	The One with the Photon Torpedo

She felt a warm breath of air cascade down her neck, and she clenched her hands into fists in annoyance. Turning around slowly she looked up at the determined face of Tom Paris who was crouched slightly above her. He looked down slowly and confusion crossed his face at her exasperated and annoyed expression.

“What?” he whispered, confused.

B’elanna took a deep breath and visibly tried to calm down. “Could you not keep breathing down my neck?” she whispered harshly, “It’s really distracting – I can smell the modified garlic Nelix added to the leola root surprise you ate for lunch,” she whispered making a face and turning back to crouching behind the corridor wall.

“What?!” Tom whispered in surprise. “My breath doesn’t smell…oh wait, yes, yes it does. My bad, I can smell it now,” he finished carefully peering past the corridor wall as B’elanna shushed him into silence.

The cold concrete that made up the corridor floor was starting to cut into B’elanna’s legs and she grumbled silently as she peered past the wall. They were stuck on a recon mission of sorts. Three days ago, Voyager had docked at an M class planet for repairs and shore leave. The natives to the planet were extremely friendly, but their concept of personal property was rather loose. On a planet where “what’s mine is yours” was taken to the extreme, the Voyager crew hadn’t realized initially that parts of the ship were being taken and trinkets and goods from the natives left in their place.

It wasn’t until a member of the local government on the planet decided to take a photon torpedo while leaving a generous supply of dilthium in its place that the crew was finally noticed of the severity of the situation. 

The natives of the planet did not take the items from Voyager out of malice, rather in a form of cultural misunderstanding. Thus, Captain Janeway had tasked Tom and B’elanna to track down the rouge photon torpedo and return it to Voyager without offending the people of this planet, while she and the other senior officers aboard Voyager surreptitiously tracked down the most valuable possessions that had “mysteriously” made their way off of Voyager. 

Tracking the photon torpedo hadn’t been difficult for Tom and B’elanna at all. In fact, it wasn’t even fully guarded. No, the tricky part was returning it to Voyager without causing offense. On this planet they had learned taking back something that was taken after accepting the offered gift was seen as an incredibly selfish act, which was considered a grievous insult. Janeway had ordered all members of the senior staff to not inadvertently insult those they had to reclaim their items from, and thus, that was how B’elanna found herself stuck staking out the corridor to the Chancellor’s office with Tom.

She shifted uncomfortably as she thought through her options again. She and Tom had spent the better part of an hour hiding outside of the corridor with no feasible plans. B’elanna was growing frustrated. She was uncomfortable and annoyed – a volatile combination she tried to keep in check… especially as time went on and the situation began to look more and more hopeless.

She jumped slightly when she heard someone whispering in her ear.

“What the hell, Tom?” she whispered angrily, shuddering slightly

“Sorry,” he breathed out and crouched down to her level on the ground. “I know how we can get the photon torpedo.”

“How?” B’elanna asked quietly. “We’ve been sitting here for the better part of an hour with no plan, so I’m open to any ideas.”

“It will be easy,” he said quietly, “you just have to seduce him.”

“You’re kidding, right?” B’elanna asked exasperatedly. “I’m about as seductive as a cabbage…”

“Trust me on this!” Tom whispered determined. 

“Are you out of your mind?” B’elanna growled dangerously. “This is the stupidest plan I’ve ever heard. Let’s just wait until he leaves and then we can sneak in and out,” she said turning away from Tom to peer carefully out from behind the corridor wall.

“No, listen…” Tom began as he pulled B’elanna around to face him. “Remember how when the Chancellor was on board Voyager the first day we docked here and he couldn’t stop talking to you. He kept on staring at your forehead ridges and always wanted to stand by you…”

“Yeah…he was a creep,” said B’elanna shortly.

“Well…yes, but I think he was into you. I mean, he even invited you to dinner at a ‘diplomatic event’ but he didn’t invite the Captain or any other members of the senior staff, so really, I think he was asking you on a date.” Tom looked at B’elanna as she mulled over his words.

Grudgingly, B’elanna had to admit that Tom made a solid case. “Okay.”

Tom’s eyes widened in shock. “Wait, seriously? Just like that you’ll go with my idea?”

B’elanna held her finger up threateningly in Tom’s face. “Yes, but only because we don’t have any better options, and I need to get off of this floor.”

Tom grinned smugly as he leaned back on his heels. “You know, I’m really starting to wish I brought my camera…”

“Not a word Tom” B’elanna whispered menacingly as she stood and walked, in what Tom could only assume was her rendition of a seductive walk, towards the Chancellor’s office.

Tom’s hunch had been correct – the Chancellor was so overjoyed that B’elanna had come to visit him, that Tom was able to sneak in and beam out completely undetected. When B’elanna returned to Voyager a full two hours later, she was seething.

“Hey! How’s our resident seductress?” Tom called out jovially as B’elanna materialized on the transporter pad. “I didn’t realize someone could complitment another person so _thouroughly_ …”

B’elanna strode over to Tom purposefully and punched him on the shoulder.

“Hey! What was that for?” Tom said grimacing as he rubbed his arm.

“Shut up,” B’elanna snarled as she made her way out of the transporter room with Tom trailing behind her.

“Come on B’elanna, at least your back now!” 

“That’s two hours of my life I won’t get back! Urgh, what a creep!” She said exasperatedly. “And you left me!”

“Sorry…I don’t think he would have been _quite_ so thrilled to see me behind his desk.”

B’elanna let out a sigh and Tom gingerly patted her on the back.

“What do you say to some banana pancakes in the Mess Hall…my treat?” Tom asked, and B’elanna smiled at him gratefully. They made their way down the corridors of Voyager, with Tom making B’elanna laugh.

“You know,” Tom said quietly, “for a cabbage, that was pretty seductive,” he said in a brief moment of shyness. 

B’elanna pushed his shoulder lightly, and smiled slightly to herself as she dug into her banana pancakes. As she watched Tom regale her with his latest Captain Proton story, she realized that today hadn’t been a complete waste after all.


End file.
